The Memphis Commercial Appeal quantifies a political trend in Tennessee, the only state in the nation to defy the Democratic tide last November:
After nearly four decades of political domination, West Tennessee's grip on power in the state capital is slipping while Middle and East Tennessee grab more of it, political analysts say.
If you don't live in Tennessee as I do you probably don't know what that trend really signifies. Here's the bottom line: West Tennessee leans heavily Democratic, East Tennessee leans heavily Republican, and Middle Tennessee is the "swing" region of the state. Power is shifting from West to Middle and East because Tennessee is becoming more Republican.
Republicans won a majority in the state Senate in 2004, but were kept from consolidating control when two GOP senators voted for the Democratic senate Speaker. This year, Republicans again won a majority and - along with one Middle Tennessee Democrat - voted in a new Republican senate Speaker, who also serves as Lt. Governor.
The Tennessee Republican Party also withstood a mammoth effort by the Tennessee Democratic Party and the incumbent Democratic governor to reduce GOP numbers in the state house - despite winning with nearly 70 percent of the vote, the very popular incumbent Gov. Phil Bredesen had no coattails - none of the several House Democratic challengers he endorsed won. (Two Democrats that Bredesen endorsed who were chasing open seats in Dem-leaning districts did win - but that's thin gruel for a guy who won his own by nearly 40 points.)
The GOP need only pick up four seats in the 2008 cycle to oust longtime Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, a West Tennessee Democrat often called "Boss Hogg" for his high-handed ways and flouting of House procedural rules to block Republican legislation.
Tennessee is a red state - it voted for George W. Bush against Tennessee native and former Tennessee Sen. Al Gore in 2000, denying Gore the presidency. It is slowly become more red.
Much has been made of how Democrats in Colorado were able to take the governor's mansion and both houses of the legislature in just a few election cycles after the GOP dominated Colorado's politics. Less attention has been paid to Tennessee and how the Republican Party continues to make gains despite the national Democratic tide of '06.
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